David Hiltbrand

Inquirer TV Critic

Monday night’s final performances deserved the All-Star title that Dancing with the Stars has been throwing around all season.

The three ladies in contention for tonight’s mirror ball trophy – Melissa Rycroft, Kelly Monaco and Shawn Johnson – first reprised their favorite routine from the competition, and then faced off in a “super-sized freestyle” number.

Like most of the lingo on DWTS, the description left me clueless. But when the results look like this tour de force by Johnson and her partner Derek Hough, color me a “super-sized" fan.

Two things of note: those other dancers on the floor are in fact the women’s Olympic gymnastic team, aka. The Fierce Five.

And while this dance earned Johnson and Hough a flawless score of 30, they still trail the Melissa Rycroft – Tony Dovolani and Kelly Monaco – Val Chmerkovskiy tandems going into tonight. That’s because Johnson and Hough included a few “illegal” moves in their first dance, a quickstep.

How many times do we have to tell you kids: No lifts!
Do you think Shawn and Derek did enough in this last dance to make up the deficit? Who do you like to win?